Bank of China Opens Blockchain Lab In Singapore

The Bank of China (BoC), one of the four largest state-owned commercial banks in the country, has opened a FinTech innovation lab in Singapore to spearhead its worldwide research and development (R&D) activities.

Called the BOC Innovation Lab, the lab is the first of its kind for the bank and will spearhead regional and global research and development work as well as build a talent pipeline and foster partnerships with local startups, universities and the government. It will also showcase artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data and cloud technologies.

“The Bank of China Innovation Lab (Singapore) marks a new milestone in our journey in South-east Asia as we lead the future with technology from Asia’s fintech hub, Singapore,” said BOC president Liu Liange. “We will combine our banking expertise with the culture of innovation that permeates our bank and adroitly apply fintech to deliver relevant financial services in an ever-changing and volatile world. With Bank of China Innovation Labs around the world, we will enable accelerated innovation of financial products and technologies, and respond faster to market trends.”

The innovation lab is housed in the BOC Building in Battery Road and is staffed by a robotic customer service officer, which can quickly identify individual clients and recall their preferences with its facial recognition capabilities. Visitors can also experience how the bank’s customers in China tour car exhibitions or houses for sale at different parts of the country via virtual reality (VR) and seal the deal on the spot.

“I understand that the BOC innovation lab will focus on artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and cloud technology,” said Senior Minister of State Sim Ann. “These are exciting projects that have the potential to transform the way BOC delivers financial services and interacts with its clients, and the types of products and services BOC offers to its clients . The opening of the BOC innovation lab in Singapore today also marks an important milestone in Singapore’s financial cooperation with China.”